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Monthly Archives: February 2012

A major developer of multi-family housing will acquire the 3.5-acre Home for Little Wanderers campus on S. Huntington Avenue, according to a company spokesperson. Boston Residential Group “is planning to develop” the children’s home property at 161 S. Huntington Ave., said spokesperson Janey Bishoff. Company CEO Curtis Kemeny was not immediately available for comment,...

PARKSIDE—After nearly a year in court, the developers of a care and housing facility for the homeless on Walnut Avenue have won the right to proceed with construction. The developers, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC) and Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), plan to make the former Barbara McInnis House at...

Former Boston Mayor Kevin White, whose decentralized city government gave more power to Jamaica Plain, died at age 82 on Jan. 27. “He was a great man,” said Larry DiCara, a JP resident who served as a city councilor for 10 years during White’s administration. White spent part of his childhood in Pondside and...

The Jamaica Plain Branch Library’s long-sought renovation is still on ice due to lack of funds, Boston Public Library (BPL) officials said last week, despite their enthusiasm for the project. BPL Chief Financial Officer Sean Nelson explained during a meeting discussing the BPL’s financial status at the JP library that the library’s capital budget...

Details still unclear Big nonprofit institutions recently paid $9.4 million in tax-like contributions under the City of Boston’s reformed “payment in lieu of taxes” or PILOT system. That is a 24 percent boost to income from the old system, according to a press release from Mayor Thomas Menino’s office. But it remains unclear what...

A panel discussion about controversial prison sentencing reforms—including the “three strikes” laws—turned into a political strategy rally by several prominent Boston elected officials on Jan. 27 at First Church in Jamaica Plain Unitarian Universalist. Dramatic moments included a convicted felon tearfully describing the impacts of a throw-away-the-key approach to sentencing, and local state Sen....

A hundred affordable rental apartments in 14 local buildings are undergoing major renovations this year in two separate, multi-million-dollar projects. Urban Edge, a Jackson Square-based community development corporation, is now renovating 82 units in 10 buildings in the Brookside, Hyde Square and Egleston Square areas. The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC), another CDC,...

JAMAICA HILLS—Showa Boston Institute for Language and Culture aims to add dorm beds, classrooms and cafeteria space to its 420 Pond St. complex. Showa Boston President Ron Provost said that the expansion is necessary to keep up the institution’s financial health in tough economic times. Showa Boston is a branch of a Japanese women’s...

JAMAICA HILLS—A minor expansion to the Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center was approved by the zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA) and community groups in recent weeks. The nursing home at 431 Pond St. plans to to tack a 15-foot-long, two-story addition onto its existing building. At a Dec. 15 meeting of the Jamaica Plain...